Analog-to-digital converter systems receive analog signals and convert them to a digital representation of the signal so that the signals can be processed in the digital domain. Analog-to-digital converter systems are very popular and may be used to convert voice, music, or any other signal consisting of a constantly varying character into digital representations so that the digital signals can be analyzed, processed, transferred or manipulated in the digital domain. Converted analog signals can then be digitally stored in computer systems, transferred via modems, or manipulated with various software systems. The digital signals can later be converted back to an analog signal for various uses.
Analog-to-digital converter systems are difficult to design and, thus, testing the analog-to-digital converter systems during design is important. Imprecision in the analog-to-digital conversion will ultimately result in poor digital representation of the analog signal and subsequent poor analog representation of the digital signal when the digital signal is converted back to an analog signal.
Testing analog-to-digital converter systems is also expensive, time consuming, and requires complex testing techniques using extensive support hardware. Also, existing analog-to-digital converter test systems are very inflexible regarding parameters such as signal sources, signal frequency, and signal precision.
Analog-to-digital converter test systems need constant signal testing and testing using more complex signals. Input signals must be precise in order to be used as references. Also, output analyzers of the converted analog signal vary widely in capability and capacity.